Multiple-area-compatible disk reproducing device

ABSTRACT

A multisession compatible disk player including: a multisession decision portion ( 6 ) that decides whether a disk has plural sessions based on session format information recorded in a lead-in area of a first session on the disk; a disk format decision portion ( 10 ) that decides whether the disk is a read-only disk based on disk format information recorded in the lead-in area of the first session on the disk; a disk type decision portion ( 7 ) that decides the type of the disk based on the results of decision by the multisession decision portion and the disk format decision portion; and a control portion ( 9 ) that controls the playback of the disk based on the result of decision by the disk type decision portion.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a multisession compatible disk playerthat plays back a multisession disk having recorded thereon music dataand other kind of data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the recent widespread use of a writable drive for a computerspecific CD-R (CD recordable)/CD-RW (CD rewritable), it has becomepossible to easily prepare a disk intended for home use. This permitspreparation of a traditionally inconceivable multisession disk that hasplural sessions with music or some other data recorded in each of them;hence, there is a demand for a multisession compatible disk playercapable of playing back all pieces of music data recorded in the pluralsessions.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram to depict the configuration of a conventionalmultisession compatible disk player. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1denotes a disk to be played back, and 1 a denotes a recording session.

The recording session 1 a is composed of first, second, . . . , and lastsessions, each consisting of a lead-in area, a program area and alead-out area. And contents information recorded in the lead-in areacontains identification information about the recording format of thedisk 1. In the first session there are recorded, as the identificationinformation, session format information indicating whether the disk 1 ismultisession or not, and disk format information indicating that thedisk 1 is a read-only disk. In each of the first and subsequent sessionsthere are recorded the current session data format indicating that thecurrent session has recorded therein music data or some other data, forexample, ROM data for CD-ROM use, information about the next sessioncontents information starting position, and so forth.

The disk 1, which has plural sessions, each consisting of the lead-in,program and lead-out areas as shown in FIG. 1, is a multisessioncompatible disk, whereas the disk 1 having one session is a singlesession disk.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a signal readout portion for reading out ofthe disk 1 a signal containing contents information; 3 denotes a signalprocessing portion that decodes the signal read out by the signalreadout portion 2 and converts the decoded signal to data processable inthe subsequent step; and 4 denotes a microprocessor that performsvarious processing, makes various decisions and controls the playback ofthe disk based on the signal processed by the signal processing portion3.

In the microprocessor 4, reference numeral 5 denotes an identificationinformation processing portion that identifies each piece ofidentification information contained in the contents information decodedby the signal processing portion 3; 6 denotes a multisession decisionportion that decides whether the disk 1 is multisession or not based onsession format information in the identification information identifiedby the identification information processing portion 5 which is recordedin the lead-in area of the first session on the disk; 7 denotes a disktype decision portion that decides the type of the disk 1 based on theresult of decision by the multisession decision portion 6; 8 denotes acontents readout processing decision portion that decides the method forcontents readout processing; and 9 denotes a control portion thatcontrols the playback method based on the result of decision by the disktype decision portion 7 and controls the readout of contents informationfor each session based on the result of decision by the contents readoutprocessing decision portion 8.

Next, the operation of the prior art example will be described below.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart to show the procedure for disk decision processingin the conventional multisession compatible disk player. In step ST11the operation for playing back the disk 1 begins with reading outcontents information in the first session by the signal readout portion2, followed by decoding the read-out contents information by the signalprocessing portion 3 and then by identifying each piece ofidentification information contained in the decoded contents informationby the identification information processing portion 5.

In step ST12 the multisession decision portion 6 decides whether thedisk 1 has plural sessions based on the session format information inthe identification information identified by the identificationinformation processing portion 5 which is recorded in the lead-in areaof the first session on the disk.

When it is decided by the plural session decision portion 6 in step ST12that the disk has only one session, the procedure goes to step ST13, inwhich the disk type decision portion 7 decides that the disk 1 is asingle session disk. When it is decided instep ST12 that the disk hasplural sessions, the disk type decision portion decides in step ST14that the disk 1 is a multisession disk.

In step ST15 the disk type decision portion 7 finishes the processingfor deciding the type of the disk 1, and the control portion effectscontrol for playing back the single or plural sessions according to theresult of decision by the disk type decision portion.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart to show the contents information readout procedurein the conventional multisession compatible disk player. Steps ST11 toST14 are the same as those ST11 to ST14 in FIG. 2.

When it is decided by the disk type decision portion 7 in step ST13 thatthe disk 1 is a single session disk, the contents readout processingdecision portion 8 terminates the contents information readoutprocessing since the disk has no contents information of the subsequentsessions, and the control portion 9 controls the signal readout portion2 via the signal processing portion 3 to start the playback of theprogram area on the disk 1.

On the other hand, when it is decided by the disk type decision portion7 in step ST14 that the disk 1 is a multisession disk, the proceduregoes to step ST16, in which the contents readout processing decisionportion 8 obtains information about the contents information startingposition from the identification processing portion 5 and sends theinformation to the control portion 9, which, in turn, controls thesignal readout portion 2 via the signal processing portion 3 to move tothe next session contents position to read out contents informationabout the next session. During the movement of the signal readoutportion 2 to the position where to start the readout of the contentsinformation, the signal processing portion 3 sends information about anerror between the current and target positions of the signal readoutportion to the control portion 9; based on the error information sentthereto the control portion 9 controls the movement of the signalreadout portion. And, as is the case with the first session contentsinformation readout processing in step ST11, the signal processingportion 3 decodes the contents information and the identificationinformation processing portion 5 identifies each piece of theidentification information contained in the decoded contentsinformation.

In the case where based on the information about the position ofstarting the next session contents information identified by theidentification information processing portion 5 the contents readoutprocessing decision portion 8 decides in step ST17 that the currentsession is followed by the next session, steps ST16 and ST17 arerepeated until the current session is no longer followed by the nextsession. When the identification information processing portion 5 doesnot identify the information about the next session contents informationstarting position and consequently the contents readout processingdecision portion 8 decides in step ST17 that the current session is notfollowed by the next session, the procedure goes to step ST18, in whichthe contents readout processing decision portion 8 terminates thecontents information readout processing and the control portion 9 andcauses the control portion 9 to start the playback of the program areaon the disk 1.

Because of its configuration described above, the conventionalmultisession compatible disk player cannot distinguish between themultisession disk and a disk marketed under the name of an enhancedmusic CD, which has sessions of recording formats so specified as torecord music data in the first session and some other data in the secondsession with no distinction from the single session disk—this gives riseto a problem that the conventional disk player inevitably plays back thedata recorded in the second session as well as the data recorded in thefirst session as in the case of playing back the multisession disk.

Further, in the case of the multisession disk, since the data typeindicating whether the recorded data music data or some other data isrecorded in the contents information about individual sessions, it isimpossible to decide which type of data is recorded in which sessionuntil contents information about all the sessions involved is read out;furthermore, in the case of the enhanced music CD having sessions ofspecified recording formats, too, it is necessary to read out thecontents information about the second session, raising a problem of adelay in the start of playback.

The present invention is intended to solve such problems as mentionedabove and has for its object to provide a multisession compatible diskplayer that based on first session contents information read out atplayback time, decides that the disk to be played back is the enhancedmusic CD, in particular, and plays it back in the same manner as in thecase of the single session disk.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a multisessioncompatible disk player that, in the case of the disk being decided asthe enhanced music CD based on the result of decision, does not read outthe second session contents information but reads out the first sessioncontents information alone as in the case of an ordinary single sessiondisk, there by starting the playback within about the same time as thatfor the single session disk.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention includes: a signal readout portion that reads out contentsinformation containing identification information about the recordingformat of a disk recorded in a lead-in area of a first session on adisk; a signal processing portion that decodes contents information readout by said signal readout portion; an identification informationprocessing portion that identifies each piece of the identificationinformation contained in the contents information decoded by said signalprocessing portion; a multisession decision portion that decides whetherthe disk has plural sessions based on a session format information inthe identification information identified by the identificationinformation processing portion which is recorded in the lead-in area ofthe first session on the disk; a disk format decision portion thatdecides whether the disk is a read-only disk based on a disk formatinformation in the identification information identified by saididentification information processing portion which is recorded in thelead-in area of the first session on the disk; a disk type decisionportion that decides a type of the disk based on results of the decisionby said multisession decision portion and said disk format decisionportion; and a control portion that controls a playback of the diskbased on a result of decision by said disk type decision portion.

This brings an effect that a playback corresponding to the type of thedisk can be realized.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention is characterized by that the disk format decision portiondecides that the disk is a single session disk when the multisessiondecision portion decides that the disk has no plural sessions.

This brings an effect that a playback corresponding to a single sessiondisk can be realized.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention is characterized by that the disk type decision portiondecides that the disk is a disk based on particular specifications whenthe multisession disk decision portion decides that the disk has pluralsessions and the disk format decision portion decides that the disk is aread-only disk.

This brings an effect that a playback corresponding to a disk based onparticular specifications can be realized.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention is characterized by that the disk type decision portiondecides an enhanced music CD whose formats of respective sessions areidentified as a disk based on particular specifications.

This brings an effect that the enhanced music CD can be played back inthe same manner as in the case of the single session disk but indistinction from other multisession disks.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention is characterized by that the disk type decision portiondecides that the disk is a multisession disk when the multisessiondecision portion decides that the disk has plural sessions and the diskformat decision portion decides that the disk is not a read-only disk.

This brings an effect that a playback corresponding to a multisessiondisk can be realized.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention further includes a contents readout processing decisionportion that causes the control portion to control a process for readoutof contents information containing identification information, which isrecorded in the second and subsequent sessions on the disk based on theresult of decision by the disk type decision portion.

This brings an effect that control of the readout of contentsinformation of the second and subsequent sessions corresponding to thetype of disk can be realized.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention is characterized by that when the multisession decisionportion decides that the disk has no plural sessions, the disk formatdecision portion decides that the disk is a single session disk, and thecontents readout processing decision portion decides that it isunnecessary to read out contents information in the subsequent sessionsand causes the control portion to terminate the contents informationreadout process.

This brings an effect that the player can terminates the process forreading out contents information in the subsequent sessions and hencestarts the playback of the single session disk in a short time.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention is characterized by that when the multisession decisionportion decides that the disk has plural sessions and the disk formatdecision portion decides that the disk is a read-only disk, the disktype decision portion decides that the disk is a disk based onparticular specifications, and the contents readout processing decisionportion decides that it is unnecessary to read out contents informationin the subsequent sessions and causes the control portion to terminatethe contents information readout process.

This brings an effect that the player can terminates the process forreading out contents information in the subsequent sessionscorresponding to the disk based on particular specifications and hencestarts the playback with waiting time similar to the single session diskin a short time.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention is characterized by that when the multisession decisionportion decides that the disk has plural sessions and the disk formatdecision portion decides that the disk is not a read-only disk, the disktype decision portion decides that the disk is a multisession disk andthe contents readout processing decision portion causes the controlportion to control the process for reading out contents information inthe subsequent sessions.

This brings an effect that readout of contents information in eachsession corresponding to the multisession disk can be realized.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention further includes a first session data type decision portionthat decides whether data recorded in the first session is music data orsome other data based on a data type in the identification informationidentified by the identification information processing portion which isrecorded in the lead-in area of the first session on the disk; andcharacterized by that the disk type decision portion decides the type ofthe disk based on the result of decision by the multisession decisionportion, the result of decision by the disk format decision portion andthe result of decision by said first session data type decision portion.

This brings an effect that control of the process for reading outcontents information in the second and subsequent sessions according tothe type of the disk can be realized.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention is characterized by that when the multisession decisionportion decides that the disk has no plural sessions, the disk formatdecision portion decides that the disk is a single session disk and thecontents readout processing decision portion decides that it isunnecessary to read out contents information in the subsequent sessionsand causes the control portion to terminate the contents informationreadout process.

This brings an effect that the player can terminate the process forreading out contents information in the subsequent sessions and hencestart the playback of the disk in a short time as the single sessiondisk.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention is characterized by that the disk type decision portiondecides that the disk is a disk based on particular specifications, andthe contents readout processing decision portion decides that it isunnecessary to read out contents information in the subsequent sessionsand causes the control portion to terminate the contents informationreadout process when the multisession decision portion decides that thedisk has plural sessions, the disk format decision portion decides thatthe disk is a read-only disk, and the first session data type decisionportion decides that data recorded in the first session is music data.

This brings an effect that the player can terminate the process forreading out contents information in the subsequent sessions and hencestart the playback of the disk within about the same time as that for anordinary single session disk.

The multisession compatible disk player according to the presentinvention is characterized by that the disk type decision portiondecides that the disk is a read-only multisession disk, and the contentsreadout processing decision portion causes the control portion tocontrol the process for reading out contents information in thesubsequent sessions when the multisession decision portion decides thatthe disk has plural sessions, the disk format decision portion decidesthat the disk is a read-only disk, and the first session data typedecision portion decides that data recorded in the first session is notmusic data but some other data.

This brings an effect that the player can perform reading out contentsinformation in the respective sessions corresponding to the read-onlymultisession disk.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram to show the configuration of a conventionalmultisession compatible disk player.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart to show a disk decision procedure in theconventional multisession compatible disk player.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart to show contents information readout procedure inthe conventional multisession compatible disk player.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram to illustrate the configuration of amultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 1 of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart to show the procedural steps of operation of themultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 1 of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram to illustrate the configuration of amultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 2 of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart to show the procedural steps of operation of themultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 2 of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram to illustrate the configuration of amultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 3 of thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart to show the procedural steps of operation of themultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 3 of thepresent invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

To facilitate a better understanding of the present invention, adescription will be given below, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, of the best mode for carrying out the invention.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 4 is a block diagram to depict the configuration of themultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 1 of thepresent invention. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 10 denotes a disk formatdecision portion that decides whether the disk 1 is a read-only disk ornot based on disk format information in the identification informationidentified by the identification information processing portion 5 whichis recorded in the lead-in area of the first session on the disk 1; thedisk type decision portion 7 decides the type of the disk based not onlyon the result of decision by the multisession decision portion 6 butalso on the result of decision by the disk format decision portion 10.The other parts corresponding to those in FIG. 1 are identified by thesame reference numerals.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described below.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart to show procedural steps of operation of themultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 1 of thepresent invention. In step ST21 the playback of the disk 1 begins withreadout of first session contents information by the signal readoutportion 2, followed by decoding the contents information by the signalprocessing portion 3, and then by identifying each piece ofidentification information contained in the decoded contents informationby the identification information processing portion 5.

In step ST22 the multisession decision portion 6 decides whether thedisk 1 has plural sessions based on session format information inidentification information identified by the identification informationprocessing portion 5 which is recorded in the lead-in area of the firstsession on the disk 1.

When it is decided by the multisession decision portion 6 in step ST22that the disk has only one session, the disk type decision portion 7decides that the disk 1 is a single session disk. If it is decided instep ST22 that the disk has plural sessions, then the procedure goes tostep ST24, in which the disk format decision portion 10 decides whetherthe disk 1 is a read-only disk or not based on disk format informationin the identification information identified by the identificationinformation processing portion 5 which is recorded in the lead-in areaof the first session on the disk 1.

When it is decided by the disk format decision portion 10 in step ST24that the disk is a read-only disk, the procedure goes to step ST25, inwhich the disk type decision portion 7 decides that the disk 1 is anenhanced music CD with sessions of specified recording formats based onparticular specifications. When it is decided by the disk formatdecision portion 10 in step ST24 that the disk is not a read-only disk,the procedure goes to step ST26, in which the disk type decision portion7 decides that the disk 1 is a multisession disk.

In step ST27 the disk type decision portion 7 terminates the procedureof decision on the disk 1 and the control portion 9 controls theplayback of the disk 1 based on the result of decision by the disk typedecision portion 7. That is, the control portion 9 effects playbackcontrol for a single session or plural sessions, depending on whetherthe disk is the single session or multisession disk, and in the case ofthe enhanced music CD, the control portion effects the same playbackcontrol as that for the single session disk in distinction from othermultisession disks.

As described above, according to embodiment 1, when the multisessiondecision portion 6 decides that the disk 1 has plural sessions and thedisk format decision portion 10 decides that the disk 1 is a read-onlydisk, the disk type decision portion 7 decides that the disk 1 is anenhanced music CD——this enables the enhanced music CD to bedistinguished from other multisession disks and played back in the samemanner as that for the single session disk.

Embodiment 2

FIG. 6 is a block diagram to illustrate the configuration of amultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 2 of thepresent invention. In FIG. 6 based on the result of decision by the disktype decision portion 7, a contents readout processing decision portion8 causes the control portion 9 to control the readout of contentsinformation containing identification information recorded in second andsubsequent sessions on the disk 1. That is, when the disk type decisionportion 7 decides that the disk 1 is a single session disk or enhancedmusic CD, the contents readout processing decision portion 8 decidesthat the readout of the contents information in the second andsubsequent sessions on the disk 1 is unnecessary, and causes the controlportion 9 to terminate the contents information readout process; whenthe disk type decision portion 7 decides that the disk 1 is amultisession disk, the contents readout processing decision portioncauses the control portion to control the readout of the contentsinformation in the second and subsequent sessions on the disk 1. Theother parts corresponding to those in embodiment 1 of FIG. 4 areidentified by the same reference numerals.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described below.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart to show procedural steps of operation of themultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 2 of thepresent invention. Steps ST21 to ST26 are the same as steps ST21 to ST26in FIG. 5 to show the procedural steps of operation of embodiment 1.

When the disk type decision portion 7 decides in step ST23 in FIG. 7that the disk 1 is a single session disk, the procedure goes to stepST30, in which the contents readout processing decision portion 8decides that it is unnecessary to read out contents information in thesubsequent sessions and causes the control portion 9 to terminate thecontents information readout process, and the control portion 9 controlsthe playback of the program area on the disk 1.

When the disk type decision portion 7 decides in step ST25 that the disk1 is an enhanced music CD, too, the procedure goes to step ST30, inwhich the contents readout processing decision portion 8 similarlydecides that it is unnecessary to reads out the contents information inthe subsequent sessions, and causes the control portion 9 to terminatethe contents information readout process, and the control portion 9controls the playback of the program area on the disk 1.

When the disk type decision portion 7 decides in step ST26 that the disk1 is a multisession disk, the procedure goes to step ST28, in which thecontents readout processing decision portion 8 obtains from theidentification information processing portion 5 information about thenext session contents information starting position and sends theinformation to the control portion 9, and the control portion 9 controlsthe signal readout portion 2 via the signal processing portion 3 to moveto the next session contents information starting position and read outthe next session contents information. And, as is the case with thereadout of the contents information in the first session in step ST21,the signal processing portion 3 decodes the contents information and theidentification information processing portion 5 identifies each piece ofidentification information contained in the decoded contentsinformation.

In the case where based on the next session contents informationstarting position information identified by the identificationinformation processing portion 5, the contents readout processingdecision portion 8 decides in step ST29 that subsequent sessions arefurther present, steps ST28 and ST29 are repeated until no furthersubsequent sessions are present. When the contents readout processingdecision portion 8 decides in step ST29 that the identificationinformation processing portion 5 does not identify the next sessioncontents information starting position information and that nosubsequent sessions are present, the procedure goes to step ST30, inwhich the contents readout processing decision portion 8 causes thecontrol portion 9 to terminate the contents information readout processand the control portion controls the playback of the program area on thedisk 1.

By deciding the multisession disk and the enhanced music CD indistinction from each other as described above, it is possible to readout the contents information of the enhanced music CD in the same manneras that for the single session disk and to start the playback of theformer within about the same time as that for the latter.

As described above, according to embodiment 2, when the multisessiondecision portion 6 decides that the disk 1 has plural sessions and thedisk format decision portion 10 decides that the disk is a read-onlydisk, the disk type decision portion 7 decides that the disk 1 is anenhanced music CD, then the contents readout processing decision portion8 reads out the contents information in the first session alone andterminates the contents information readout process, and the controlportion 9 controls the playback of the program area on the disk 1. Withthis scheme, the playback of the enhanced music CD can also be startedwithin about the same time as that for an ordinary single session disk.

Embodiment 3

FIG. 8 is a block diagram to illustrate the configuration of amultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 3 of thepresent invention. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 11 denotes a firstsession data type decision portion that decides whether data recorded inthe first session is music data or some other data based on that onepiece of identification information identified by the identificationinformation processing portion 5 which is the data type recorded in thelead-in area of the first session on the disk 1; the disk type decisionportion 7 decides the type of the disk 1 based on the results ofdecision by the multisession decision portion 6, the disk formatdecision portion 10 and the first session data type decision portion 11.The other parts corresponding to those in embodiment 2 of FIG. 6 areidentified by the same reference numerals.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described below.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart to show procedural steps of operation of themultisession compatible disk player according to embodiment 3 of thepresent invention. The illustrated flowchart has step ST31 added betweensteps ST24 and ST25 in embodiment 2 depicted in FIG. 7.

When the disk format decision portion 10 decides in step ST24 that thedisk 1 is a read-only disk, the procedure goes to step ST31, in whichthe first session data type decision portion 11 decides whether datarecorded in the first session is music data or some other data based onthe data type in the identification information identified by theidentification information processing portion 5 which is recorded in thelead-in area of the first session on the disk 1.

When the first session data type decision portion 11 decides in stepST31 that the data recorded in the first session is music data, theprocedure goes to step ST25, in which the disk type decision portion 7decides that the disk 1 is an enhanced music CD.

When the first session data type decision portion 11 decides in stepST31 that the data recorded in the first session is not music data butsome other data, the procedure goes to step ST26, in which the disk typedecision portion 7 decides that the disk is a read-only multisessiondisk other than the enhanced music CD, and the procedure goes to stepST28, in which to perform the same processing as in the case of themultisession disk in embodiment 2.

The other procedural steps of operation are identical with those inembodiment 2 shown in FIG. 7.

As described above, according to embodiment 3, in the case where themultisession decision portion 6 decides that the disk 1 has pluralsessions, then the disk format decision portion 10 decides that the disk1 is a read-only disk, and the first session data type decision portion11 decides that the data recorded in the first session is music data,the disk type decision portion 7 decides that the disk 1 is an enhancedmusic CD, the contents readout processing decision portion 8 terminatesthe contents information readout process after reading out the firstsession contents information alone, and the control portion 9 controlsthe playback of the program area on the disk 1. With this scheme, theplayback of the enhanced music CD can also be started within about thesame time as that for an ordinary single session disk.

Further, according to embodiment 3 described above, when the firstsession data type decision portion 11 decides that the data recorded inthe first session is not music data but some other data, the disk typedecision portion 7 decides that the disk is not an enhanced music CD buta read-only multisession disk with some other data recorded in the firstsession, and the contents readout processing decision portion 8 causesthe control portion 9 to read out the contents information of the nextsession. By this, it is possible to play back the read-only multisessiondisk in which the data recorded in the first session is not music databut some other data.

Incidentally, while in the above the present invention has beendescribed as being applied to the multisession compatible CD player, itis needless to say that the invention is applicable as well to otherplayers of the same data configuration as described above.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, the multisession compatible disk player according tothe present invention decides the enhanced music CD that is amultisession disk based on particular specifications based on the firstsession contents information read out during playback of the disk;hence, the player of the invention is capable of playing back such adisk in the same manner as that for the single session disk and startingits playback within about the same time as that needed for the latter.

1. A multisession compatible disk player characterized by the provisionof: a signal readout portion that reads out contents informationcontaining identification information about the recording format of adisk recorded in a lead-in area of a first session on the disk; a signalprocessing portion that decodes contents information read out by saidsignal readout portion; an identification information processing portionthat identifies each piece of the identification information containedin the contents information decoded by said signal processing portion; amultisession decision portion that decides whether the disk has pluralsessions based on a session format information in the identificationinformation identified by the identification information processingportion which is recorded in the lead-in area of the first session onthe disk; a disk format decision portion that decides whether the diskis a read-only disk based on a disk format information in theidentification information identified by said identification informationprocessing portion which is recorded in the lead-in area of the firstsession on the disk; a disk type decision portion that decides a type ofthe disk based on results of the decision by said multisession decisionportion and said disk format decision portion; and a control portionthat controls a playback of the disk based on a result of decision bysaid disk type decision portion.
 2. The multisession compatible diskplayer as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the disk formatdecision portion decides that the disk is a single session disk when themultisession decision portion decides that the disk has no pluralsessions.
 3. The multisession compatible disk player as claimed in claim1, characterized in that the disk type decision portion decides that thedisk is a disk based on particular specifications when the multisessiondisk decision portion decides that the disk has plural sessions and thedisk format decision portion decides that the disk is a read-only disk.4. The multisession compatible disk player as claimed in claim 3,characterized in that the disk type decision portion decides an enhancedmusic CD whose formats of respective sessions are identified as a diskbased on particular specifications.
 5. The multisession compatible diskplayer as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the disk typedecision portion decides that the disk is a multisession disk when themultisession decision portion decides that the disk has plural sessionsand the disk format decision portion decides that the disk is not aread-only disk.
 6. The multisession compatible disk player as claimed inclaim 1, characterized by the provision of: a contents readoutprocessing decision portion that causes the control portion to control aprocess for readout of contents information containing identificationinformation, which is recorded in the second and subsequent sessions onthe disk based on the result of decision by the disk type decisionportion.
 7. The multisession compatible disk player as claimed in claim6, characterized in that when the multisession decision portion decidesthat the disk has no plural sessions, the disk format decision portiondecides that the disk is a single session disk, and the contents readoutprocessing decision portion decides that it is unnecessary to read outcontents information in the subsequent sessions and causes the controlportion to terminate the contents information readout process.
 8. Themultisession compatible disk player as claimed in claim 6, characterizedin that when the multisession decision portion decides that the disk hasplural sessions and the disk format decision portion decides that thedisk is a read-only disk, the disk type decision portion decides thatthe disk is a disk based on particular specifications, and the contentsreadout processing decision portion decides that it is unnecessary toread out contents information in the subsequent sessions and causes thecontrol portion to terminate the contents information readout process.9. The multisession compatible disk player as claimed in claim 6,characterized in that when the multisession decision portion decidesthat the disk has plural sessions and the disk format decision portiondecides that the disk is not a read-only disk, the disk type decisionportion decides that the disk is a multisession disk and the contentsreadout processing decision portion causes the control portion tocontrol the process for reading out contents information in thesubsequent sessions.
 10. The multisession compatible disk player asclaimed in claim 6, characterized by the provision of: a first sessiondata type decision portion that decides whether data recorded in thefirst session is music data or some other data based on a data type inthe identification information identified by the identificationinformation processing portion which is recorded in the lead-in area ofthe first session on the disk; wherein the disk type decision portiondecides the type of the disk based on the result of decision by themultisession decision portion, the result of decision by the disk formatdecision portion and the result of decision by said first session datatype decision portion.
 11. The multisession compatible disk player asclaimed in claim 10, characterized in that when the multisessiondecision portion decides that the disk has no plural sessions, the diskformat decision portion decides that the disk is a single session diskand the contents readout processing decision portion decides that it isunnecessary to read out contents information in the subsequent sessionsand causes the control portion to terminate the contents informationreadout process.
 12. The multisession compatible disk player as claimedin claim 10, characterized in that the disk type decision portiondecides that the disk is a disk based on particular specifications, andthe contents readout processing decision portion decides that it isunnecessary to read out contents information in the subsequent sessionsand causes the control portion to terminate the contents informationreadout process when the multisession decision portion decides that thedisk has plural sessions, the disk format decision portion decides thatthe disk is a read-only disk, and the first session data type decisionportion decides that data recorded in the first session is music data.13. The multisession compatible disk player as claimed in claim 10,characterized in that the disk type decision portion decides that thedisk is a read-only multisession disk, and the contents readoutprocessing decision portion causes the control portion to control theprocess for reading out contents information in the subsequent sessionswhen the multisession decision portion decides that the disk has pluralsessions, the disk format decision portion decides that the disk is aread-only disk, and the first session data type decision portion decidesthat data recorded in the first session is not music data but some otherdata.